All The Kings' Horses

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was a little worried going in, but only paused for a few seconds.  She was a little worried almost the entire time, but only stopped at a muddy area in the back.  I waited until she showed signs of relaxation, and then encouraged her on.  She went a few steps and then stopped again, but the second time, it didn't take as long for her to relax, and she got going again on her own.  She needed a little encouragement to keep going, but was definitely braver than last time overall!

 Gia and I started out with a nice, stretching, relaxed free walk in out lesson with Suzin today.  We picked up to medium walk and did a few halt transitions.  She wanted to step back, so each time, I immediately sent her forward and halted again a few steps later.  It took a few tries before she would move into my hands better and stand quieter.   After that, we moved on to walk/trot transitions.  She was against my hand, and a bit resistant to go forward and stay soft.  I worked on getting her to stretch down into my hands better, and lower the crest of her neck more.  Then we tried to keep that as we transitioned back and forth between walk and trot.  We did have a few good moments. After a quick break, we moved on and tried the same exercise,  but with the canter in mind.  I didn't always ask for the canter, but if she was polite, I allowed it.  She did a bit of tail swishing, but did not really buck today.  I really focused on her straightness, especially in regards to how har

 Gia and I had a lesson at CDP with Charlie today.  She was a little tense when we started stretching at the walk, but not too bad.  Her transition to trot was ok the first time and better the second time.  We worked on the usual at the trot - forward and back, leg yield, haunches-in.  All that felt fairly good, maybe a little distracted.  I asked for canter both ways.  She was a little sassy, with a little bucking, but I kept her poll up and kept her forward, and she worked it out.   We started working over a few small verticals with some (relatively) tighter turns.  She started having trouble going forward, and was sucking back a bit.  She was also picking up the canter when I hadn't asked for it.  I had to work on sending her forward, regardless of whether or not I asked for the canter, until she was in front of my leg, then bring her back and try again.  By the end, we were able to get a better trot, but we didn't make it back to the jumping.  Next time ...

 I worked with Gia on her flatwork today.  We started with a nice stretch at the walk, and then moved into medium walk to halt to rein back transitions.  All that was pretty good.  When I asked for working trot, she was a bit resistant, so I had to reinforce my quiet cue with a strong kick.  She was much more obedient the second time, and thereafter.  She was a little tight and not quite straight, but we were able to work through it fairly well.  I asked for a bit of canter, and it wasn't too bad.  She was  a little tense at first, but we also worked through that without too many theatrics.  I was able to get her softer, straighter and more relaxed at the canter in each direction.

 I warmed Gia up with stretching at the walk, followed by trot work - bending, leg yields, collecting and lengthening.  Then we worked over a few jumps I had set up in the arena.  The warm up crossrail was too small (it was the largest I use for any other horse).  She still just trotted over it.  The 2' verticals were a bit better, but she was lazy with her feet at first and knocked the first one over, which pissed her off, so she threw in a few bucks.  We kept working back and forth over the jumps.  She would land at the canter, but her canter was very unbalanced today, so I had to do a lot of balancing and collecting to get it back together.  By the end, she was able to get over a jump nicely, and land in a better canter.

 I worked Gia lightly today, since she had some days off.  We mostly just worked at the walk and trot.  We did a lot of stretching down at both gaits.  We also worked a little on transitions.  She was a bit tense and quick, so I mainly focused on helping her relax and slow down.  When she did, her stretching was better as well!

 Gia injured herself late last week, so she was out of work for a few days.  Luckily, it was nothing serious, just a laceration near her hock (which can be serious if the laceration goes deep enough to infect the joint).  She was a little bit off, and a little swollen, but we monitored her temperature (to be on the lookout for infection), and treated her injury, and she was back to normal as of Saturday. I wanted to keep things physically easy on her today, so we went for a hack on the trail.  She was a little nervous about some new stuff at the head of the trail, but after allowing her to relax, she was fine to continue on.  She was great for the the majority of the hack, until we came to a new-ish area, or rather, an area we had been avoiding lately due to it being too wet.  She was quite anxious about it, and did creep forward a little after relaxing several times.  However, she wasn't making any real progress, so I hopped off and led her through by hand.  She followed me hesita

Gia was a little naughty in the cross ties this morning before she was loaded on the trailer.  She started dancing around and acting impatient.  So, she got put in the round pen, where I sent her around in circles until she decided it would be easier to just behave herself.  It took her a little longer than I expected, especially considering how warm it was.  Stubbornness ... When we got to CDP for our lesson, she was fairly quiet and relaxed.  We warmed up with the usual - stretching, bending, leg yields, haunches-in, go forward, come back, all at the walk and trot.  I also asked for the canter in both directions.  She was well-behaved, and we were able to work on balancing the canter. Charlie had us work through several courses.  It didn't matter if she trotted or cantered, but she felt better when she cantered most of it.  In the beginning, I stayed out of the saddle, in half seat, to allow her back to move more freely.  Once she felt warmed up and obedient, I started to sit dee

 I took Gia to the War Horse schooling and show this weekend at the Carolina Horse Park.  We schooled stadium and cross country on Saturday.  She was a bit spooky on the lunge line, but eventually worked it out.  She was also a bit spooky heading up to stadium, and while warming up she did try to throw her hind end around.  She didn't buck much, but did a lot of tail swishing and fish-tailing.  Once I started jumping her, she seemed to settle down.  On the stadium course, she went fairly quiet and steady.  Out on cross country, she was OK.  She was nervous, and did stop at a few jumps, but got over them the second time.  She did go right in the water on her own though! On Sunday, Gia was a little quieter in dressage warm up than she usually is, but she felt tense and nervous.  Despite still feeling tight in the show ring, she scored a 26.3% and started in first place out of 17!  She went on to have nervous, but double clear, stadium and cross country rounds, and finished, for the f

 I took Gia for a hack on the trail today.  She was a bit nervous about a couple of things at the head of the trail, so we hung out there for a while, until she showed signs of relaxation (licking and chewing, and lowering her head).  Once on the trail, she was ok.  She was a little nervous, but she kept going.  Whenever she got too quick, I halted until she relaxed, and then moved on.

 I started my lesson with Suzin with Gia on a long rein, stretching at the walk.  She was a bit tight at first, but then relaxed and really got into a good stretch with a good overstep.  I picked her up to medium walk, and did several transitions to halt.  If her halt was good, I asked for rein back.  If it was not good, I walked on and tried again.  Then I asked for a trot transition from one of the good rein backs.  She moved forward nicely, with a good push from behind. As we were moving around the arena at the trot, changing bend and direction, Gia started to feel a bit tight, and tense.  At times, she would resist going forward, but then rush into the canter.  I would bring her back, but then she would get tight again.  Suzin had me allow her to canter, so she could get her tension out.  She was fairly well behaved, once I let her canter.  She only bucked if she was on the wrong lead, and it was just to switch the leads since she knew she was incorrect.  After a few laps in each d

 I had a lesson with Gia at CDP today.  I started by stretching her down at the walk.  When I picked her up to the trot, I worked on collecting and lengthening, leg yields and haunches-in.  All that went fairly well, so we moved on to the canter.  Her transitions were prompt and obedient, with correct leads, and she stayed fairly well balanced.   Charlie had us jump a vertical with ground poles to warm up.  When she landed at the canter, we schooled on a circle.  She stayed fairly obedient and balanced.  Then he had us work with three different verticals on fairly tight turns (for Gia).  She had to work on staying balanced as she turned, but she could trot or canter.  She did a little of both.  At times, when she got unbalanced or frustrated, she threw in a buck or two, but I was able to get her back under control quickly.  At the end, she was starting to anticipate a little too much, so we worked on a simple, slow trot with leg yields and haunches-in. She finished with a very relaxed

 Gia was not on her best behavior today.   I started by stretching her down at the walk, and she felt a bit tense and quick, but I asked her to slow her walk down, and she settled in to it better.  She felt quite resistant when I asked her to halt.  She was inverted, and against the bit, so I worked on getting her to flex, but I also had to send her forward because she wanted to back up without being asked.  I had to do a lot of softening, stretching, flexing and sending her forward, which turned into the trot, and then turned into the canter.  Then she wanted to buck, since she wasn't getting her way.  I just kept softening and sending her forward.  It took a while, and a lot of tantrum throwing, but I eventually was able to get her to go forward and stay soft, as well as to stop and stay soft.  She was quite worn out by the end!

 We had another drill team practice on Saturday.  Gia was on her best behavior yet!  She was very good in close quarters with the other horses, and even helped one of the spookier horses get through an issue.  She was very obedient to all aids and cues, and even slowed down and sped up to help accommodate the other horses and riders!

 I worked with Gia on her jumping in the arena today.  I warmed her up with free walk, at first.  She was a bit tense and quick, so I worked on slowing her walk down, in addition to encouraging her to stretch and travel straight.  She eventually relaxed, and settled in to work.  Then I picked her up to a trot, and worked on bending in the corners, and changes of bend across the diagonal.  We trotted over a few poles, then a small vertical.  Next, we went over a 2' vertical, which she trotted at first.  I had to get her moving a little quicker, and she finally picked up a canter and jumped the jump.  Her jump was pretty good, but she often landed on the wrong lead, so I helped her with that using a little leading inside rein over the jump.  When we landed in a good canter, on the correct lead, I worked on balancing and stabilizing the canter.  She felt pretty good in both directions today!